


Baby, You Light Up My World

by berusama



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-04
Updated: 2012-05-04
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:02:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berusama/pseuds/berusama
Summary: Zayn doesn't know he'sbeautifulfucking hot.





	Baby, You Light Up My World

**Author's Note:**

> beta'd by [](http://ingeneva.livejournal.com/profile)[**ingeneva**](http://ingeneva.livejournal.com/), who i am now in love with. any remaining mistakes are my own.

Liam hadn't really thought through what 'teaching Zayn to dance' was going to entail before he had agreed to it. To be honest, he hadn't really been thinking anything past the ridiculous surge of satisfaction and excitement at the idea of Zayn asking him for a private, personal favor.

"'Cause there's a dance room in the hotel and I thought maybe..." Zayn had trailed off, looking embarrassed and vulnerable, and how could Liam possible have said no?

But now here they are, standing in the middle of the hotel dance studio in the middle of the night -- because Zayn hadn't wanted to risk anyone seeing them -- and Liam has no idea how to start.

"Well, I guess we can start with what you do know," he suggests, but Zayn just looks at him blankly.

"If I knew any moves I wouldn't be asking for lessons; I'd just do that one move for the rest of my life."

Liam laughs, and it seems to loosen Zayn up a bit. At least he starts smiling.

"Okay," Liam says slowly, trying to think of the most basic thing about dancing, of the one thing every dancer needs to be able to do. "Maybe the first thing we should work on is rhythm?"

"Haven't got any," Zayn laughs.

"You do when you sing," Liam points out.

Zayn scoffs. "That's different."

"How?" Liam challenges, and he is beginning to think that he has an actual idea. "Wait here."

"What? No," Zayn protests, promptly following Liam out of the studio.

"I'm coming back," Liam laughs, but Zayn ignores him and together they walk through the hotel to the lounge.

Liam spots what he needs and goes to the receptionist behind the counter.

"Excuse me," he says in his politest tone. The gentleman looks up. "Do you think we could borrow that metronome for a bit?" he asks, pointing to the device sitting on top of the lobby piano. When the man doesn’t respond, Liam adds, "We're guests here.”

And either the man recognizes them or he just doesn't care about the rarity of metronomes these days, because he acquiesces eventually.

Both Liam and Zayn thank the man before grabbing the thing and hurrying back to the dance studio.

"Alright," Liam says once he has Zayn back in the middle of the room and the metronome ticking out a steady beat. "So all dance moves are done to a beat, right? And it could be like really obvious, like when you sing a ballad, or it could be all jumbled together, kind of like jazz, but even jazz is played to an underlying beat. So I guess maybe you just have to know what beat you're moving to, and then plan accordingly.”

"Okay," Zayn says, but he doesn’t sound too sure and his mouth is beginning to turn down at the corners.

"For example," Liam says, quickly, "Louis' 'Stop the traffic, let the people go' move is really simple, right? But it only looks good if you're hitting the moves on the beat. So the same could be said for really complex moves. Like this."

Liam glides smoothly around in a circle, and when he's facing Zayn again, Zayn has this pained look on his face.

"But what does timing have to do with it if I can't even do the moves?"

"I can teach you how to do the moves," Liam says, because he's pretty sure if he can teach himself, he can teach Zayn, "but just being able to move around doesn't make you a good dancer. Being able to embody a song through your moves makes you a good dancer, and you already know how to embody a song because you know how to sing. And singing is about the notes, yeah, but it's also about tempo."

"So," Zayn says slowly, and it looks like he's trying not to smile, "you're saying that because I can sing, I can dance?"

Liam tries to hide his answering smile behind a grimace. "Shut it. You know that made sense on some level."

"Whatever, come on," Zayn says, grinning at Liam and shaking his limbs out impatiently. "Show me how to do that thing."

They spend the next hour chanting 'heel, toe, heel, toe' as Liam demonstrates again and again, trying his best to articulate what he's doing with his feet, until Zayn can kind of glide in an arc, if not in a full circle.

When Zayn is able to do it on his own without stuttering to a stop half-way through, Liam jumps him with a hug and then does a sort of spontaneous robot/Michael Jackson/body roll/smash up that makes Zayn say, "Next time you're teaching me how to do that."

“Alright,” Liam agrees quickly, because even though Zayn kept threatening to quit, teaching him was fun. There’s something about being able to explain something effectively that Liam finds very satisfying. He wonders, sometimes, if he should have been a teacher.

He watches Zayn glide on his own, and even though he’s not doing it perfectly, he still looks good. Zayn may not realize it, but he does have a natural grace that Liam finds himself appreciating more and more often.

“Alright?” Zayn asks when he catches Liam staring.

“Yeah,” Liam says, smiling, “just tired.”

“Me too. Should we take this back?” Zayn asks, gesturing to the metronome. Liam nods.

On their way back to the lobby, they joke about hiding the metronome in one of the other boys' rooms while it's still ticking. They don't, of course -- mostly because Liam would never risk crossing the receptionists by not returning it -- but it's enough for a good laugh.

Back in their room, they take turns using the bathroom and then climb into their beds.

"Liam," Zayn says after he's turned out the lights.

"Yeah?" Liam answers, even though he has to work at making his mouth form the words because he’s already drifting off.

"Thanks for not, you know... laughing at me."

Liam’s exhaustion seems to slip away for a moment, and he leans up on one elbow. "Hey," he says, even though he can't really see Zayn in the dark, "no worries. You're my best mate."

There's a brief pause, and then Zayn says, "You're mine too," and Liam doesn’t have to see him to know he’s smiling.

\- - -

They have a second lesson in the hotel, but it's another three nights before they are awake and energetic enough to try again. There isn't a dance room in their next hotel, so they practice in their room instead, watching instructional videos on YouTube and trying to learn ridiculous dances, like the Charleston.

"I've got it!" Zayn says, but he so doesn't, and Liam falls to the floor laughing.

Zayn keeps dancing, grinning down at Liam ridiculously, and Liam gets the sudden urge to wrap his arms around Zayn and squeeze. He starts to get back up, but then someone knocks rapidly on the door, and Liam goes to answer it instead.

"What's up?" he asks; the other boys push past him as soon as he opens the door.

"We heard music," Harry says.

"And laughter," Louis adds. "You two know that no one's allowed to laugh without me present."

"So sorry," Zayn laughs, pausing the video on his laptop.

"What are you two doing?" Niall asks, sitting himself on Zayn's bed.

Liam looks to Zayn, who simply shrugs a shoulder, so Liam answers, "Dancing."

"But," Louis starts, as though he is genuinely confused, "Zayn can't dance."

Zayn shoves his shoulder, and Louis goes flying onto Liam's bed. "S'why he's teaching me, you arse."

"Dance lessons?!" Harry cheers, clapping his hands and sitting down next to Niall. "Let's have a performance, then!"

"No, guys," Zayn starts, but he is met by a chorus of "awww" and "come on," and Louis begins chanting his name. The others join in. Zayn cuts his eyes to Liam, and he can tell Zayn is uncomfortable, but if he can't dance in front of his four best friends, then who will he ever be able to dance in front of? Liam gives Zayn a small smile that he hopes is reassuring.

"Ugh, fine," Zayn says, and he promptly does a complicated glide and isolation move they have been working on.

The other cheer and Zayn blushes, but Liam says, "Oh my god." It comes out louder and slightly more accusatory than he meant.

"What?" Zayn asks.

"It's you! It's not your tempo at all, it's you! When you're nervous, you speed up your moves!"

"What?" Zayn says again, echoed by the other three.

"When we first started, I thought we had to work on your rhythm, because you weren't dancing on tempo, but it's not about your ability to find the beat. You just speed everything up when you're nervous. You do it when you sing too."

"I do?" Zayn asks, and he looks kind of horrified.

"Well, not anymore," Liam assures, moving towards him and touching his elbow. "But before. During The X Factor. But now you’re so confident in your voice it never happens."

"So what you're saying," Louis interjects, "is that Monsieur Malik needs _more_ confidence in himself?"

"In his dancing," Liam corrects, even though he's sure everyone knew that's what he meant.

"How're you going to do that?" Niall asks.

Liam looks to Zayn who is looking back, wide-eyed and hopeful.

"Not sure yet," he says, but he squeezes Zayn's shoulder. He'll figure it out eventually.

\- - -

"So," Liam says, three weeks later, "I was thinking that we could practice some dance moves that you don't feel very comfortable doing."

Zayn makes a face.

"Practice makes perfect," Liam says, even though he knows Zayn is sick of hearing that.

"I liked learning new moves," Zayn protests.

Liam nods. "Yeah, and we can keep doing that too, but there are some things you don't like to do that you're going to need to get comfortable with eventually."

"Like what?" Zayn challenges. Liam can see Zayn’s stubbornness coming out in the way his eyes narrow and tips his chin up.

"Well," Liam says, trying to suppress a smile. "You don't like to do anything sexy."

"What?" Zayn demands, and he doesn’t look stubborn any more. Now he looks surprised, which, in Liam’s experience, is not an easy expression to elicit from him. "You can't say that! Dancing is sexy all together!"

Liam laughs. "And do you like to dance, Zayn?"

Zayn glares, but doesn’t say anything else.

"It's not a bad thing." Liam says gently, not actually wanting to upset Zayn. "You're just more of the 'smoldering' type than the 'sex in your face' type."

Zayn arches an eyebrow. "Sex in your face?"

"You know what I mean," Liam laughs, "I just think that until you get comfortable moving your body in certain ways, you're always going to be afraid of moving it at all."

Zayn crosses his arms, looking down at the ground, and Liam knows that Zayn knows he’s right. Sometimes Liam wonders if it’s normal to know another person the way he knows Zayn. Most times he assumes it’s not normal, that he and Zayn have a special bond, because if feeling this way about someone were normal, he’s pretty sure the world would be a better place.

"Fine, professor," Zayn concedes eventually. He drops his arms to his sides and spreads his hands out in a 'go on' sort of gesture.

"Right," Liam says, cutting his thoughts short. He turns away from Zayn to face the dance studio mirror. "'Sexy' is all in the hips. You have to be fluid and not afraid to exaggerate your movements."

They try a few basic pelvic thrusts and gyrations, but Zayn starts laughing and then keeps laughing as he tries to mimic Liam’s movements.

"Stop, stop," Liam laughs, grabbing at Zayn's arms and then hips as he makes exaggerated hula-hoop movements. "Don't move your upper body at all."

Liam moves to stand behind Zayn, hands still on his hips.

"All you're going to move," Liam says, "are your hips and your knees. Maybe your feet. Okay?"

"Easy for you to say," Zayn shoots back, but there's laughter in his voice.

Liam grins at him in the mirror and then rolls his own hips, trying to force Zayn to do the same with his hands. It doesn’t really work. Zayn is so tense, Liam would be surprised if he could move at all.

"Relax," Liam urges, stepping close enough to Zayn that he can feel his body heat.

When Liam pushes again, Zayn's whole body rocks in a circle.

"No, it's like everything from here up is frozen," Liam explains, placing his palm against Zayn's lower back. "Arch your back."

Zayn’s spine barely shifts, so he pushes with his palm and says, “More.”

Zayn huffs out a breath and actually arches his back.

"Okay,” Liam says, “now just kind of shift your hips to the left. Just your hips."

Liam settles his other hand just below Zayn’s ribs to make sure his torso doesn’t move as he circles his hips forward and then to the right.

When Zayn’s hips shift back to center, Liam asks, "Did you feel the difference?"

"Um, yeah?" Zayn asks, and Liam laughs.

“Try adding your knees this time. When you shift your hips to the left, bend your left knee a little.”

Liam moves his hands back to Zayn's hips and pushes them through the circle again. But he’s watching Zayn in the mirror and doesn’t realize how closely he’s standing until Zayn’s hips shift backwards and into Liam’s. Liam can feel the immediate burn across his cheekbones, but it doesn't really concern him because they fit. They fit together like there was never any space between them and... it's nice.

“Hm?” Liam says when he realizes Zayn has been speaking.

“Sorry,” Zayn repeats, watching Liam in the mirror.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Liam says quickly. He finally steps back from Zayn’s warmth.

"So, uh, once you get that, you can add in the rest of your body.” Zayn is still watching him, but then he nods, like he wants Liam to go on. “I guess the key is just to remember that when you're rolling your body, you only want certain parts moving at a time."

"Like isolations?" Zayn asks.

Liam nods. "Right, but more fluid. Like when you roll your body, you don't really stop. The movement should roll down your body one section at a time."

At Zayn's confused look, Liam steps out from behind him and demonstrates a body roll.

"See? It starts with my shoulders, and then moves down from there." He demonstrates again in slow motion. "You try."

Liam watches Zayn look down and sort of grimace at the floor, and instantly all of his suspicions are confirmed. "See, I was right! You don't like to do this stuff!"

"Well, I just don't see why!" Zayn says, and when he looks back up at Liam, he looks genuinely upset. "I was getting good at that other stuff, the stuff that had nothing to do with hips and body rolling. Why can't we just do that?"

Liam takes a step closer to Zayn. "Because," he says, grasping the back of Zayn's neck, "you'll never get better if you only do the stuff you're comfortable with. You need to learn how to accept the fact that you're sexy."

Zayn scoffs and pushes Liam's hand away. "I know how to be sexy."

"Prove it, then," Liam challenges, grinning. "Show me."

And, yeah, Liam knows he’s pushing Zayn right now. But the thing is, he’s seen Zayn reach this point so many times: where his comfort zone ends and Zayn always backs down, always plays it safe. And that’s not what Liam wants for him. He thinks Zayn deserves more.

Liam grips Zayn’s shoulder and then moves behind him again. ‘I’m just trying to help,’ Liam tells himself as he places his hands back on Zayn’s hips, but he can’t deny the part of him that is dying to fit himself up against Zayn again.

Liam meets Zayn’s eyes in the mirror and says, "Shoulders first," before pushing his own forward into Zayn’s. Then he presses his chest into Zayn's shoulder blades, and Zayn is really not making this easy by barely moving with Liam at all. When his hips push forward, fitting up against Zayn's arse, Liam is disappointed to note that it doesn't feel the same as when Zayn was leaning back into him.

"Dancing with you is like dancing with a wet blanket," Liam teases.

Zayn laughs and shoves his body back into Liam's in revenge, and it’s like the tension is suddenly gone from his spine. Liam takes the opportunity to roll his body against Zayn's again, and this time it actually works. Zayn's body is pliant and warm and it feels like they've been doing this forever. Liam rolls their bodies again and again, and Zayn grins at him triumphantly in the mirror.

It doesn’t last, though. Eventually Zayn loses the rhythm and ends up pushing his hips back as Liam pushes his forward. Liam can’t help the sharp breath he draws as something white-hot courses through his lower stomach. It's different than fitting together; it's shoving together and Liam doesn't know what to think.

"Right," Liam says, stepping away from Zayn perhaps a little too quickly. "That's a whole different kind of dancing."

Zayn laughs, but he’s not looking at Liam. Then his laugh turns into a yawn and before Liam knows it, they're back upstairs in front of their hotel rooms. Zayn meets Liam's eyes just long enough to say ‘good night,’ and then he's closing the door to his and Niall’s room.

Liam stares at the door for several seconds before deciding he needs to talk to someone. He glances at Harry and Louis’ room across the hall.

Someone reasonable.

Back in his room, Liam picks up his phone, ignores all his texts and calls Danielle. She doesn’t answer, so Liam goes about getting ready for bed. He's barely finished brushing his teeth before she calls him back.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asks as soon as he answers. “How have you been?”

“Good, you?” he asks, to be polite.

“Good,” she says, drawing out the word. He knows she knows that he called for a reason. They make a great team when it comes to playing up their supposed “romance” for the press, but he doesn’t really call unless he has a reason and they both know that.

“How do you know if you’re meant to be with someone?” he asks, not bothering to lead up to the subject.

Danielle laughs. “Wow, nothing like a late-night philosophical discussion to keep the mind sharp.”

Liam laughs, too, but doesn’t retract the question.

“Um,” Danielle says eventually. “I don’t know. I mean, can you really say that any one person is _meant_ to be with anyone else? Like, if you were meant to be with someone, wouldn’t you just _be_ with them?”

“Yeah, okay, but what if you’re with them? How do you know if it can be anything more?”

There’s a pause on the other end, and Liam is a little afraid that she’s going to start asking questions, but instead she says, “Well, I guess you should look for compatibility. And whether or not you feel anything for them physically and emotionally. And maybe whether the benefits of being with someone outweigh the costs.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Liam agrees, before he quickly changes the topic. The last thing he needs is his fake significant other speculating about any hypothetical real significant others.

They talk for another ten minutes about their respective gigs before saying good night.

“Good luck,” Danielle adds before she hangs up.

Liam knows he should try to sleep, but Danielle’s words are still running through his head. Part of him wants to get up and make a pros and cons list, while another part wants to know why he’s even considering such a thing in the first place.

But when he thinks about how he and Zayn fit together, all his other thoughts calm and quiet, so he focuses on that until the tension leaves his body and sleep takes him.

\- - -

After the awkwardness of their last dance session, Zayn expects there to be an even longer lull between their lessons than before, which is disappointing because he was starting to feel like they were really making progress.

But when, a week later, Liam opens the door to their room and says, "There's a studio downstairs. You want to dance?" Zayn drops everything and follows him eagerly.

This time, Liam teaches him how to use his knees, and how to roll up his spine as he leans forward, and what to do with his arms as his moves his hips. He keeps a noticeable distance from Zayn the whole time.

Not that he was really expecting Liam to get that close again. Hell, Zayn's not even sure he  _wants_  Liam to get that close again, because he's still pretty sure he was doing everything wrong and he doesn't want the reminder of how much he sucks at this.

It's just that... being pressed so close to Liam was kind of wonderful.

So he twists and rolls his body and the disappointment fades away because he's pretty sure he's getting better at this. It's all about being smooth and graceful, which it turns out Zayn is actually good at. Liam teases him that they should have been doing ballet this whole time.

It still makes Zayn laugh to see himself dancing like this, especially when Liam steals Niall's portable speakers and starts blasting Usher.

"Make sure you're hitting the move on the beat," Liam reminds him, over Zayn’s giggles.

Zayn thrusts his hips forward on the beat with a little more vigor than necessary, and then they are both laughing. Liam turns towards him, and suddenly they are gyrating towards each other. Zayn's gaze zeros in on Liam's hips, which are getting closer and closer.

Before Liam can get too close, Zayn jumps around and does his "signature move," the one he always resorts to in the end.

Liam laughs and shoves at Zayn's back, but when Zayn turns around, Liam is looking at him curiously.

"You're doing it again," he says simply, like Zayn's supposed to know what that means.

"Doing what?"

"Dancing like you don't take yourself seriously," Liam answers, still staring.

"Well, that's not a bad thing. You can't take yourself too seriously in life," Zayn says, sagely.

"Right, but when you do it with dancing, it's like... Like you don't think you look good doing it, so you make yourself look ridiculous." And now Liam looks kind of sad.

Zayn shrugs. He's really not sure what to say to that.

They stare at each other for several moments, and then Liam asks, "Why don’t you think you look good?" so softly that it makes Zayn's throat constrict.

His eyes dart to the floor, and he can feel himself kind of folding in. He shrugs.

“I guess…” Zayn trails off, trying to collect his thoughts. “If people make fun of the way you look enough, you start to believe them?”

He looks up, and Liam is looking back at him, staring intensely. And then Liam is pulling Zayn to him and Zayn buries his face against his neck. They stay like that for what feels like hours, but it really only lasts for like half a song. The next song that comes on is a slow ballad, and Liam starts swaying gently.

Zayn laughs. "This kind of dancing I do know how to do," he says, voice muffled against Liam's neck still. Liam laughs too. Then they’re slow dancing, arms wrapped around each other and turning slowly in a circle.

"I think you're amazing," Liam says like he's stating a simple truth.

"I think _you're_ amazing," Zayn returns, squeezing his arms around Liam’s shoulders.

"And I do think you're a good dancer," Liam continues. "I just think you need to believe in yourself more. Believe in your sexiness."

"I know people think I'm sexy, Liam," Zayn reprimands to avoid feeling embarrassed. "There are thousands of girls who tell me so daily."

"Okay, but other people thinking it and you thinking it are two different things," is all Liam says in return.

Zayn doesn't have anything to say to that, so he pulls back slightly and takes Liam's hands into his own. He turns Liam and loops their arms around his torso, spinning him out like they are ballroom dancing. Liam laughs, and they spin together until the song changes.

"This is a strange playlist," Liam says as Little Freak comes on. Zayn laughs and starts to sway a little slower, a little more deliberately.

Liam pulls back a little, watching Zayn with a pleased smile he always wears where someone finally gets it and starts swaying, too.

Zayn's pretty sure it starts out as a joke. They'd just shared a pretty personal moment, and this song is so ridiculously dirty that they can't not make fun of it, but whatever light-heartedness they started dancing with pretty much flies out the window when Zayn turns his back to Liam and leans back into his space. There is a moment of terrifying hesitation before Liam steps right up to Zayn's back, practically seals them together, and they start to sway, rolling and circling their hips in sync.

Zayn chances a glance at the mirror and almost gasps.

Liam's head is bowed over his shoulder, his hands on Zayn's hips, and they look so hot moving together like this. And Zayn gets it. This is sexy. It's simple and kind of elegant and sexy, and he doesn't feel ridiculous or embarrassed because it looks good and suddenly he wants so much more.

He waits another few circles of their hips before he switches directions and _presses_ back into Liam's hips. Liam freezes but doesn't pull back this time.

His neck is still arched over Zayn's shoulder, so Zayn tips his head back slightly and grinds his hips back in just the way Liam taught him. Liam's grip tightens on his hips and then pulls back gently, guiding Zayn's hips in tight little circles and pushing his hips forward in counterpoint.

Zayn's heart leaps into his throat, and then his brain takes a short hiatus. He closes his eyes, reaches one arm back to cup the back of Liam's neck and just lets go. He feels himself rolling his body and using his lower back the way Liam told him to, and it doesn't even matter what he looks like anymore because this _feels_ incredible.

Liam is pulling at his pants now, fingers curled into the elastic band, not trying to take them off but definitely trying to get Zayn closer to him, and it pulls the material of his sweats against his dick in a way that is almost perfect.

Zayn turns his head that much further, tilts it back just far enough that he's breathing against Liam's mouth, sharing heavy breaths for too many quick heartbeats before Liam presses forward and seals their mouths together. Zayn wastes no time in turning around and winding his arms around Liam's neck to hold him in place. If this is his one chance to do this, he's not wasting it.

It's not as perfect of a fit facing each other, but Liam's not stilling his hips, so Zayn's not about to either.

Liam's hands drift down to Zayn's arse, pulling Zayn in, and the kiss breaks as they gasp against each other's lips. He does it again and again, and it's so good, but all the burning pleasure coursing through his body seems to jump-start Zayn's brain again.

"Liam," Zayn whispers. "Liam, what are we doing?"

Liam stills his movements and pulls away enough to look Zayn in the eye.

"Dancing. Right?"

Zayn swallows. "Is that all?"

Liam's eyes dart down to Zayn's lips, and Zayn licks at them, unconsciously.

"No," he whispers back. "Nothing with you is ever that simple."

Zayn feels his own eyes fall to Liam's lips, and he licks at his own again. "Is that okay?"

Liam's eyebrows come together for a moment, but they smooth out just as quickly. He smiles.

"Yeah," he says, squeezing Zayn's hips, and Zayn can't keep the smile off his face.

"Okay," Zayn whispers, tilting his chin forward. Liam waits only a second before pressing their lips together again. The kiss is gentle and sweet, and Zayn wants to memorize it forever and ask a million questions but also maybe never move again because this is perfect. This is something he'd never thought he would actually have, a place he never thought his relationship with Liam would reach.

There are still things to worry about, like what management will say if they find out because they've been talking about getting a girlfriend for Zayn, too, and they've already set up a date for him to go on during the band's break. And then there are the boys, because who knows how they'll react, but Zayn pushes it all to the back of his mind because this is one of the most important moments of his life so far and he can't waste it.

One of Liam's hands runs up Zayn's back, and Zayn breaks the kiss to gasp, "Should we head up?"

"Yeah." Liam grins and then steps away to gather Niall's speakers and Zayn's ipod. Zayn feels cold without Liam's body heat against him, and this is what he focuses on during the elevator ride up to their room. He can see Liam glancing at him, so he cuts his eyes over to him and winks.

Liam laughs and leans in for what might have been a kiss, but then the elevator comes to a stop and he pulls back before the doors can open.

They make it down the hall and into their room without seeing anyone, and Zayn is relieved because all he wants right now is to be left alone. Once inside, Zayn just watches Liam set Niall's speakers up again on the hotel room table. He scrolls through Zayn's ipod until he finds some soft music, and then he turns around to face Zayn.

It occurs to him, then, that Liam may be trying to "set the mood."

"Are we going to slow dance again?" Zayn teases.

"Well," Liam says, walking toward Zayn with a soft smile on his lips. "It worked out well last time."

Zayn laughs and shoves Liam to the side so he falls onto Zayn's bed. Liam bounces and then makes himself comfortable as Zayn kneels on the bed. After a second of hesitation, Zayn crawls forward to straddle Liam's hips.

Liam arches an eyebrow at him, and Zayn just smiles back coyly.

"So I guess I should thank you," Zayn says, softly, not quite sure of what he's doing but feeling brave enough to try. "For, you know, teaching me how to dance, yeah?"

"Absolutely." Liam grins, folding his arms behind his head.

Zayn smiles back before he scoots forward a little further up and lowers himself onto Liam's hips. He wiggles a little to get comfortable, and Liam's hands shoot out to grab his hips.

"Shit," Liam gasps, and Zayn breathes, "Yeah?" and grinds down.

"Yeah," Liam groans, pulling at Zayn's hips as his head falls back against the mattress.

Zayn rolls his hips until he can feel Liam's erection, full and swollen beneath him. It's possibly the hottest thing he's ever experienced, but he knows the throbbing, burning pleasure isn't enough to get him off.

He runs the tips of his fingers along the top of Liam's sweats, experimentally. Liam's abs clench, and then he is pushing at Zayn's hips, forcing Zayn to kneel up so that he can shove his sweats and boxers down his thighs.

Zayn just kind of gapes for a moment at the sight of Liam exposed for him, but then Liam is pulling at his sweats, and Zayn tips to the side so he can pull them off his legs entirely.

Their shirts and socks follow, until they are both naked and reaching for each other, and somehow Liam ends up on top this time, but it's okay because his mouth is on Zayn's neck and his hand is on Zayn's dick and everything feels fucking amazing; he's already so close.

Zayn finally get his hands on Liam's cock, and as soon as he does Liam groans out his name, a sort of 'Oh god, Zayn,' that has Zayn crossing his eyes and coming all over his own stomach.

It takes him a moment to come down, but when he does Liam is still braced above him, watching his face with wide-eyed wonder.

"I made you come," Liam says, like maybe Zayn hadn't noticed it happening.

"Yeah," Zayn agrees. "Good job." He looks down at the mess he made, sees his hands still gripping Liam's dick and gets a wonderful idea. "Do you mind if I..."

Liam looks confused until Zayn swipes his palm through his own spunk and then gestures back towards Liam's dick, at which point Liam groans again and buries his face in Zayn's neck.

Zayn takes that to mean, 'No, I don't mind at all.'

He wraps his slick hand around Liam again, and then Liam is groaning his name again, fucking into Zayn's hand, and Zayn feel the heat rush back to his face because _he's_ the one making Liam sound this way and it's so good. So sexy.

"Still think I don't know how to be sexy?" Zayn rasps, tightening his fist as Liam thrusts into it, and Liam laughs and comes, which is pretty amazing.

He keeps laughing as he collapses half on top of Zayn.

"I never said you don't know how to be sexy," he defends eventually, once they have caught their breath and the mess has started to cool all over Zayn. "I said you don't _believe_ you're sexy."

"Changed your mind, then?"

Liam looks at him for a moment, just looks at him, and says, "When you can show off your 'sexy' in front of more than just me, then my mind will change.” Zayn mock-glares at him, but even that is too much effort for right now.

"Fine," he says, and he rearranges the pillow under his head before he remembers he can't sleep when he's covered in jizz.

Liam laughs gently and then climbs off the bed to offer a hand to Zayn. They clean up, strip the bed, crack a window and then fall onto Liam's bed to be greeted by sweet unconsciousness.

\- - -

In the morning, they kiss and brush their teeth and then kiss some more. They’re late to breakfast, which is normal for Zayn but not for Liam, so everyone asks where he was as soon as he sits down.

"I slept in on accident. Stayed up too late last night," he answers.

"What were you doing?" Louis asks, his tone insinuating and eyebrows waggling.

Liam’s eyes cut to Zayn and they share a small, entirely suspicious smile.

"Dancing."

\- - -

Two weeks later, Liam gets an email from Zayn that's simply a link to YouTube. It takes him to a video that already has thousands of views. Liam doesn't know what to expect, but Zayn dancing like _that_ with two of his friends from home probably would have been the last thing, had he made a list or something.

He watches it three times before sending Zayn a quick text.

_saw ur video._

He only has to wait a minute for Zayn's response.

_did it change ur mind?_

Liam grins at the text. Actually, he’s been grinning since he first watched the video, ten minutes ago.

 _o yea ;)_ he texts back, but that's not all he wants to say. After another minute he texts, _im proud of u_

Liam spends the next four minutes staring at his phone until it finally vibrates again.

_thanks :) xx_

Liam smiles back at the little smiley face and then texts, _maybe u can show me those moves again in person_

And it seems like his text has only just sent when he gets Zayn's response.

_o yea ;)_


End file.
